Friday, April 24, 2015

Happy 9th Birthday Kendri!

Kendri celebrated her 9th birthday this year.  I must be getting younger.....

She wanted a dragon cake because she and Lexi have been reading lots of sci-fi books with dragons in them.  I guess we're dragon-lovers over here!

We had a family party the night of her birthday.  Lots of cousins and aunts and uncles and Gamie and Pa showed up to help eat cake and ice cream. And Lexi helped out by making sure Kendri was the only one blowing out her candles!


Present time!  Her favorite present was the new Penny board she got.  She's been asking for one since Christmas. And it's super cute.  Too bad I don't have a picture of it....

And just to make the day fun, we wrapped her door the night before.  She woke up to a giant sign that read, "Happy 9th Birthday Kendri!"  You can't see it.  It was on the other side and it makes it really tricky to snap a picture of it after it's been hung....

Kendri also got to invite two friends out for an evening of pizza, bowling and rootbeer floats!  We even stuck around for a cosmic bowl.  Talk about fun!  We all had a great time!



At 9 Kendri:
Loves double-stuffed Oreos
Loves to read (over 400 AR points this year)
Enjoys all sports
Is competitive
Hard-working
Can be an emotional wreck ;)
Hates kisses anywhere but the top of her head
Likes to be a jokester

We love having so many dynamic personalities in our family.....we love you, Kendri!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter weekend in Angel's Camp. We went up Friday night so we could spend Saturday listening to General Conference and prepping for Easter Sunday!  

We dyed the most beeeeyoootiful eggs this year.  Gamie pulled out the spray glue and glitter and we didn't need to be told twice. My picture doesn't do them justice.  They were sparkly and lovely and I felt a little like Christmas visited in Spring.  (You all know how I can't say no to a sparkly Christmas ornament......)


We did our annual Easter Egg hunt and I must say, with all the kids getting older the hunts just don't last very long anymore!


The big kids are always good about helping the littlest ones.  In fact, I'm not really needed anymore except to try and keep up with the camera.  Which I didn't do very well this year.


 Kyson hit the jack-pot this time by finding the "Golden Egg".  It was the biggest egg out there and was filled with nickels and dimes.  Ryan tried to get him to leave it on the water fountain so Shayli could find it but he shook it one time (jingle, jingle) and said "No way!".

No mercy.



We had a great weekend and all the kids sat and listened to most of Conference this year.  They had worksheets to fill in during the talks and it kept them focused.  They did a great job listening to all 4 sessions! (Well.  Shayli and Kyson didn't quite make it to all four sessions.)  I guess I'm just surprised at how old my kids are getting......Happy Easter everyone!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Softball and Haircuts......and a BIG Joke

Softball season is in full force! Lexi and Kendri are both playing softball and Kyson is playing baseball.  Between all of the practices and games, we usually have to get someone to something every night of the week and we usually have 3 games on Saturday.  To say it's time consuming would be an understatement!

But I have to say, there is nothing cuter than these little 5 and 6 year olds in their baseball uniforms! Everyone is doing really well this year and it's been fun to watch their games. 


On to other news.....We randomly hit the perfect day to get haircuts.  Unbeknownst to me, there was a big special going for kids haircuts and I just happened to call when it was going on.  Ten dollar haircuts at the salon for everybody! I was just going to take Lexi since she was ready to go back to her short hair do, but at that price I decided Kendri and Shayli might as well get a trim too.  I thought Shayli would enjoy her haircut since she loves to have me trim her hair.  I was wrong. She was petrified that they would cut off all her beautiful hair.  She hated it.  I'm surprised we even got her to sit through it.  Oh well!


Kendri enjoyed hers much more.  She and Lexi loved the hair wash and head massage best!  And for some reason I didn't get a picture of Lexi getting her hair cut.  Probably because there were about 5 stylists standing around watching the one stylist cut her A line.  Anyway. You'll see her new 'do in the next post I guess.

Here we are at 31 weeks.  Making progress and still growing!  I've been doing different pregnancy workouts and I really feel like they have benefited me this time around.  Lots of squats and lunges as well as some ab and lower back workouts.  They are all focused on making for an easier delivery.  I guess we'll find out!

And while we are it.....April Fool's Day wasn't too far back.  And little did I know that my two oldest children had quite the trick up their sleeves!  Ryan and I heard them moving around upstairs super late (like 9:45).  This is what we found when we went up to investigate.  Notice poor little Kyson's painted fingernails? Apparently we sleep like the dead around here.


Needless to say, I was NOT going to let them wake up with all that marker on their faces for a couple of reasons.
1.)  I didn't want to have to deal with the meltdowns that were sure to follow
                   
2.) I didn't want the marker to stain so badly overnight that it wouldn't scrub off for school the next day

So I scrubbed their faces while they slept (and they didn't wake up???) and in the morning you could still see traces of the joke.  They were not amused but Lexi and Kendri thought it was hilarious!  After one more scrub down, we were able to eliminate the mustaches and eyebrows and there was no harm done.

 I have to admit, it was pretty funny.  For revenge, Kyson and I bought some oreo's (Kendri's weakness) and smeared toothpaste on the frosting.  She bit down and screamed "mint oreo's????" and then spit it out.  Lexi took a bite of hers and decided it was tasty.  Until Kyson told her she was eating toothpaste.  And then she spit hers out too!  I can only imagine what next year will bring.....eek!


Monday, March 9, 2015

Ryan Gets a Year......Younger?

Happy 37th Birthday Ryan! We had a big bash for Ry-Ry this year.  Okay we didn't.  Maybe we'll scratch that off our bucket list for the big 4-0......


We just ate some mud pie and opened a few presents.  But who could want more than mud pie??



On a side note, Ryan made a table for the family room.  It took a couple tries and a few major changes (I'm sometimes fickle) but in the end it turned out perfect!  We love it! Oh, actually this picture is the unfinished table but I loved my blossoms that I cut from the neighbors tree (stop judging.  It hangs clear over my fence and I have to pick up rotten fruit for 3 months when it's producing.  I figure this is just a few less apricots to throw out during the summer)
so much that I posted it.


This next picture shows the REAL finished table.  Minus my beautiful blossoms which really could've lasted all summer long and I wouldn't have complained. The legs are the main difference.  the above picture is just the top sitting on an existing table.  We just wanted to get a feel for the size before Ryan finished putting it together. And I know my accessories aren't positioned nicely but I apparently wasn't worried about that at the time I snapped the pic!


And since it's the last pregnancy for me, let's document another "bumpie".  I was actually taking this picture to show Amber my new haircut but it shows my belly too.  I think we are approximately 27 weeks here. And ps, my hair hasn't looked that good since I took the picture.  How do the salons do it????







Friday, February 27, 2015

Winter Soccer

Kendri tried out for Winter Soccer this year and made the team!  Whoo hoo Kendri!  One of her games happened to be in Merced where Grandma Reese lives.  We stopped by to pay her a visit and while we were there we decided to pick some ripe grapefruit.  The kids had such a good time "harvesting" that we came home with about 7 bags of grapefruit.  Now I'm no mathetician, but I know I'm not getting through that many grapefruit in a timely fashion!  We shared the wealth with friends and family.  





After all that work we were hungry so we headed to Black Bear Diner where we had lunch.  It was the first time we had eaten there and we were pleasantly surprised!  The portions were huge and the food was great.  I think next time we'll share some platters......Thanks Grandma Reese for hanging out with us!



Sunday, February 15, 2015

Happy 11th Birthday Lexi!

If I thought Kyson should slow down a little, I definitely think Lexi needs to!  How did this happen?  Eleven is nearly a teenager! I mean I hardly look a day over 18 myself......ahem.  

Anyhoo, Lexi had a friend party this year and wanted a candy land cake.  There was much ooohing and ahhhing over it, but I think all those girls really wanted to do is devour the candy.  And they did just that.  In like 5 minutes.  So much for the hours of labor I poured into it.  ;)

So what did we do? The girls all played flashlight tag and then came in for a little dance party.  We borrowed a friends disco light bulb and PART-AYed!


And if you can't tell by Lexi's plugged ears, 12 tweens can really belt out the birthday song. In fact, they can belt out anything.




Lexi got some clay for her birthday and wasted no time at all.  She got right to work creating masterpieces.  This is her first dragon. Since then she has made lots of different charms and figurines.  Two headed dragon, hamburger and french fries, bacon and eggs, donuts and lots more!  You name it and she'll make it.  She is currently taking custom orders at school and selling them 50 cents.  She loves being an entrepreneur as well as creative.




At 11 Lexi is:

A great big sister
Helps around the house when I ask her to
Still innocent and sweet but likes to be the boss
Enjoys volleyball and violin
Michael's is her favorite store
She is always creating something
Gets excellent grades

We love having Lexi around! Happy birthday!


Monday, February 2, 2015

Buddies

Kyson and Shayli are good little buddies.  They play so well together.  Kyson took it upon himself to help teach Shayli the finer points of baseball.  


She actually got a hold of a couple of the pitches and got herself a good little hit.


And just as a side note, there are perks to being pregnant.  Not always, mind you.  But if you are lucky you can find superb parking every once in awhile!


And here we are at 24 weeks.  Making progress and still a little dumbfounded about how fast I am popping out!